Help! Do I remove 2 lg overflow boxes in 300g with 1?

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chiroken

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 3, 2012
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Vancouver Island, BC Canada
Hello, ongoing figuring out how to best set up my 300g, 8' tank. It must have originally been built as a room divider as the 2 large overflow boxes project from the ends of the tank leaving 6" spaces in front and behind (the overflows are 12 inches deep). The boxes project out 8+ inches leaving 6' 6 1/2" of open space between boxes. This basically makes in 6" wider than a 6' tank, really loose alot of space!!! This is the tank after I have painted the overflows with Krylon. I have also painted the exterior end sections to block the insides of the overflow boxes (as well as the exterior back).
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I've had the brain wave to take out these boxes, use a piece of the glass to cover the in/out flow holes in the bottom glass panel, and install a glass-holes.com 3000 internal box: http://www.glass-holes.com/3000-Overflow-Box-Complete-Kit-gh3000kit.htm . Taking out the overflow boxes will turn the tank back into an 8 footer and that has me excited! The overflow is $150 (haven't checked out shipping to Canada yet) and that is cheap imo to gain all that space back.

Questions:

1) Is it doable to even get out those overflow boxes? The main tank glass is 3/4" thick, forgot to look if the overflows are the same or not. It might be only 1/2". Abit concerned with the seam up against the tank sides getting scratched when trying to cut the silicone seam.

2) The tank's silicone seam where the side meets the bottom pane, that may well be damaged during the process. Can that ~ 18" strip just be resiliconed and actually seal properly? Can't join new with old silicone I thought? You will see that the bottom pane has reinforced glass strips (about 3" wide) running across both the front and back of the tank. Could I remove the silicone between the front and back strips as well as along the extra support strip to the dimensions of the glass to cover the holes and perfectly fit it into that 18" space? Does that make sense?

3)Glass-holes.com box: any concern with the use of this? Their installation video seems pretty simple but drilling into extremely expensive 3/4" glass in 8' sheets kinda freaks me out. It will drain into a 6' sump. I assume I would still run 2 returns. Total holes drilled = 4. Can't lay the tank flat either as it tanks 6+ people to move it and I don't really have anywhere to lay it flat. Water is needed while drilling so rig up a hose that trickles onto the hole being drilled?

4) Placement of a single overflow box?? I see them installed centrally with a return in each back corner or I see them on 1 end with both returns in the opposite back corner. Obviously creates different flow patterns, what is the advantage of 1 over the other?

5)Should I DIY spray bars for each return if the returns are in each corner?

6) Is there a secret to removing curing Krylon paint? I would be removing pai
nt from the exterior ends of the tank as well as a internally where the front of the overflow box meets the side tank piece.

Any answers to these questions or suggestions would be appreciated.
 
I would sell it and buy the tank I wanted. Sounds risky.
 
I dont really understand what your aiming for but you can remove the boxes just buy the skinniest razor you can find and cut the silicone!!

1- Its glass shouldn't scratch with a razor else your smashing the tip into it. I clean the front panel of my tanks with razors they just have to be new 0 rust. you can always put duck tape around the area also.

you may be left with a silicone film once removed these are very hard to remove but once the tank is full very hard to see most the time.

2- Kind of lost here too, So else your cutting the inner bond of the tank (glass tanks have 2 bonds of silicone, the inners the first one that is used in between the 2 sheets of glass you cant touch this with your finger, the 2nd is the one inside the tank that you can touch.) as long as you only cut the 2nd layer you should be fine i would try not to cut it as much as possible but its more of a shield, if you cut the inner bonding you may have an issue.

3- yes water is required to drill glass. You could drill the base of that tank without moving it, hell we have drilled tanks full of water and fish with air driven drills but if its your first time drilling glass I would defs not try it on this tank its a very nice looking tank :) Maybe practice on spare sheets of glass you can find, dont practice on cover glass sheets etc you want something thick. drilling thicker glass is easier imo once you get it started, thin glass cracks very easy.

4- I dont understand.

5- Up to you, I prefer to spilt my return line so I have 2-3 15-20mm returns and then I will just use a elbow or so to aim it where I feel best suited.

6- No clue, I have removed paint from glass before using a razor but these are your average wall paints.

I personally would keep the overflow boxes, I think they look great and with a bit of plants and driftwood or rocks would be very hard to notice they are there.
 
@ Squirt: thanks for the comments. To your points:

What I am aiming at is more usable tank space. The 2 overflow boxes currently take 1 1/2 feet of tank space from the whole water column. Are you familiar with the box on the link I provided? It mounts to the back wall, is about 18" across, about 7 inches tall and only 3 1/2" deep. It has nearly zero impact on usable tank space.

2) I am referring to the silicone that you can touch, the curved part that is exposed to water. If this bead is damaged by taking out the overflow walls do I need to strip that whole seam on the end of the tank vs. just adding silicone to the damaged area.

3) excellent idea about practicing 1st, hadn't thought of that. I will have the overflow box pieces that are at least 1/2" thick that I could do a couple of holes first to get the feel of it.

4) Where is it best to mount the single new overflow box? It will be mounted from the top of the waterline down as it is about 7" tall. But where along the back wall to mount it? Centred or near 1 end? Where the outflow goes will obviously affect where I place the returns.

I agree that the boxes are not overly noticeable, they've been painted to match the background. They will blend in nicely. The issue is that they turn an 8' tank into a 6 1/2' tank. The 6 inches between the front glass and the front of the box is basically useless. I've just only realized that maybe I can recover that 1 1/2' and get a much more stunning usable width by removing the existing boxes and using a narrow profile rear wall mounted box.
 
couple of questions/observations
1. why would you drill anything? why not remove the overflows and use the existing holes on either side. Or are the holes too far out for that to work? If that's the case then you'd be drilling new holes AND patching the old holes...I'd sooner cut the old overflows down to a couple inches on the bottom and use the material to make an adapter from the old overflow foot print to the new one. (it would look similar to a 2 story house with a smaller 2nd floor.) you'd gain back most of the space but wouldn't have to drill.

2. 18" is too short, without adapting it like above, you're going to lose the top 6" of your tank...at which point you're losing more space than you gained. Actually from your pics you'd be losing 12" as it seems yours is an 8x2 footprint 300 tall, not the 8x2.5 footprint 300 wide.
 
yogurt_21 said:
couple of questions/observations1. why would you drill anything? why not remove the overflows and use the existing holes on either side. Or are the holes too far out for that to work? If that's the case then you'd be drilling new holes AND patching the old holes...I'd sooner cut the old overflows down to a couple inches on the bottom and use the material to make an adapter from the old overflow foot print to the new one. (it would look similar to a 2 story house with a smaller 2nd floor.) you'd gain back most of the space but wouldn't have to drill. 2. 18" is too short, without adapting it like above, you're going to lose the top 6" of your tank...at which point you're losing more space than you gained. Actually from your pics you'd be losing 12" as it seems yours is an 8x2 footprint 300 tall, not the 8x2.5 footprint 300 wide.
Click to expand...

Yes, my tank is 96Wx24Dx31H. Maybe I left out required information. Firstly, the single hole you see in the overflow near the top is where the return enters back into the tank. I have removed the black egg crate that was siliconed on edge to the top of the overflow walls where the water flowed over top into the box (it was a reef tank and the eggcrate was toast) Secondly, the 2 existing overflows have the holes drilled in the bottom of the tank, not the sides. Covering them up will mean I will just place a piece of say 8"x12"x1/2" glass flat on the bottom over both holes on each end of the tank. 100% of the space will be recaptured. Each overflow takes away ~12.5 gallons of viewable tank space so that's 25g combined. The box I'm considering to use from the link provided is 18.25" wide x 7" tall x 3.5" deep. It will be attached to the back of the tank (internally) and take away only 1.8 gallons of "space".

I think I understand your idea of modifying the existing overflows. Looking from the front you would see basically an "L" on either end of the tank. A narrower vertical section in the upper reaches of the tank that opens into the lower section that would have the same footprint as now (footprint can't change due to location of holes that are drilled). The upper vertical portion might be 3-4" in width rather than the current 8".

I didn't understand or couldn't visualize your second comment. I don't see how I'm losing anything from the top of the tank other than the footprint of the new box which is 18.25 x 3.5. And again this only extends down 7" into the tank and sits flush against the back of the tank. I've included a picture here to show what the new box I'm considering actually looks like installed. Remember my background is black so it will be barely noticable.
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/photopost/data/508/Overflow3.jpg
 
Good morning or night :P

1- Everyone will say something different here, honestly if your taking anything under 3 inches off I wouldn't bother removing the whole seam just use a good silicone. wont hurt to do the whole wall but I personally would leave it.

2- Sounds good, look up a few guides. Dont use a hammer drill. I think air powered drills are the best but not everyone has them. The faster the drill bit can spin the easier imo but dont go out and buy a Milwaukee drill just to drill glass :P

you can also make a wooden guide, just get a hole saw and cut it larger then the hole u want to drill but not too large, reason for this is I can grantee on your first few times the drill will slide and your tank will have scratches !!!!!

You want to start on an angel then slowly even out of the hole, once even I turn the drill in small circle motions so the drill is never really sitting flat. I only go flat once I am getting close to the end. I find this method the best because it makes starting a hole very very easy but if you dont level up the drill right it can cause issues. I.e front of the hole goes too deep for the back which can cause a crack.

May also want to get a friend to hold a spray bottle and just spray every so often. vs using the hose inside :P

4- I have no clue man!!! lol where ever you want!

so sense you want to save tank space... why do you need an overflow box anyways? you can just use a pipe and wrap it in fake plants or gather rocks around it etc. this is what I do in tanks where I dont want overflow boxes. If you get creative with the PVC pipe you can make it look pretty natural or you could just paint a pvc pipe black!

sounds like the best idea for you, the fish will swim around the pipe and it will result in the least area lost within the tank.
 
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